[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":46},["ShallowReactive",2],{"translationData-4-about-a-tree-by-david-banney":3},[4],{"id":5,"status":6,"user_created":7,"date_created":8,"user_updated":9,"date_updated":10,"title":11,"artist":12,"type":13,"vimeo_id":14,"duration":15,"translation_number":16,"text":17,"artist_statement":18,"written_compact_display":17,"medium_description":19,"slug":20,"home_vertical":17,"home_horizontal":21,"summary":17,"thumb_image":22,"statement_links":23,"artist_bio":29,"image":17,"project":43},3,"published","eff6683a-1dde-484e-b978-d0d0aa192fe9","2026-02-11T02:43:56.000Z","c60f67a5-cb24-475c-9315-c577e0ae8b34","2026-07-01T02:35:02.000Z","About a Tree","David Banney","video","1192099670","05:52",4,null,"\u003Cp>\u003Cem>About a Tree\u003C/em> was commissioned by m3architecture, as a musical response to their commemorative building for the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine, Queensland. \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>In the late nineteenth century Barcaldine was the end of the Central Western Railway at a time when pastoralists were notorious for poor treatment of their workers. This led, in 1891, to a Shearer's Strike that garnered national attention. There was a tree outside the Barcaldine Railway Station that became the meeting point for those engaging in industrial action. The 1891 strike failed, and this failure gave energy to a movement that would become the Australian Labor Party. In 1892 the manifesto of the Queensland Labor Party was announced in an event that took place under the tree. The manifesto is one of the foundation documents of the Australian Labor Party and in 2009, the document was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register. The ghost gum entered Labor Party folklore as the Tree of Knowledge. \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>In 2006 the tree was poisoned, leaving just a stump and a few dead branches. m3architecture was approached, in collaboration with Brian Hooper, to produce a memorial to the tree. The result can be readily seen on the internet and on m3architecture's website. The outer screen of the memorial is clad in charcoaled timber, creating a kind of mourning veil around the relic. The central space is defined by 3600 suspended timber members, which are hung to form the external shape of the original canopy. The memorial won The Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage Architecture and a National Commendation for Public Architecture at the 2010 National Architecture Awards of the Australian Institute of Architects.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>This composition tells the story of the tree. One might imagine a tourist entering the memorial, their gaze immediately drawn upwards to the hanging timbers, gently moving and touching in the breeze. A tour guide interrupts and offers to tell the story of the tree. The story begins with an elegy to the tree that must have been there for some decades before the events that made it famous, and now lives on as a ghost. Then comes a faster section, permeated by an ostinato in the piano that depicts the movement of a train. This section is faster and more dramatic, depicting the conflict and tension at the heart of the story. The music builds to a climax that gives way to a triumphant transformation of the original elegiac melody – a train journey through the thrills and spills of modern Australia. The train quietly disappears into the distance and piece ends with a reprise of the opening material, bringing us back to the memorial itself, looking forever upwards.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>David Banney\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>","Performed by Greg Smith (piano) with the Christ Church Camerata String Quartet\nMusic © David Banney, 2026","4-about-a-tree-by-david-banney","5c4ebc7e-66f9-459e-a899-134948444635","5ca0ef85-478e-424a-af84-fcde16ac470a",[24],{"id":25,"sort":17,"link_text":26,"type":27,"link_url":28,"translation_id":5,"file":17},2,"Link to download score here","link","https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/about-a-tree-23776083.html",{"id":5,"user_created":7,"date_created":30,"user_updated":17,"date_updated":17,"artist":12,"media_type":31,"vimeo_id":17,"video_caption":17,"video_duration":17,"column_1":32,"column_2":33,"more_info_text":34,"more_info_link":35,"image_caption":36,"translation":37,"image":38},"2026-02-11T02:08:32.000Z","image","\u003Cdiv id=\"bgLayers_comp-l8wic5lz\" class=\"MW5IWV\" data-hook=\"bgLayers\" data-motion-part=\"BG_LAYER comp-l8wic5lz\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"bgMedia_comp-l8wic5lz\" class=\"VgO9Yg\" data-motion-part=\"BG_MEDIA comp-l8wic5lz\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv class=\"\" data-mesh-id=\"comp-l8wic5lzinlineContent\" data-testid=\"inline-content\">\n\u003Cdiv data-mesh-id=\"comp-l8wic5lzinlineContent-gridContainer\" data-testid=\"mesh-container-content\">\n\u003Csection id=\"comp-k35p0co2\" class=\"comp-k35p0co2 CohWsy wixui-column-strip\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"bgLayers_comp-k35p0co2\" class=\"if7Vw2\" data-hook=\"bgLayers\" data-motion-part=\"BG_LAYER comp-k35p0co2\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"bgMedia_comp-k35p0co2\" class=\"wG8dni\" data-motion-part=\"BG_MEDIA comp-k35p0co2\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv class=\"V5AUxf\" data-testid=\"columns\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"comp-k35p0cp9\" class=\"comp-k35p0cp9 YzqVVZ wixui-column-strip__column\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"bgLayers_comp-k35p0cp9\" class=\"MW5IWV\" data-hook=\"bgLayers\" data-motion-part=\"BG_LAYER comp-k35p0cp9\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"bgMedia_comp-k35p0cp9\" class=\"VgO9Yg\" data-motion-part=\"BG_MEDIA comp-k35p0cp9\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv class=\"\" data-mesh-id=\"comp-k35p0cp9inlineContent\" data-testid=\"inline-content\">\n\u003Cdiv data-mesh-id=\"comp-k35p0cp9inlineContent-gridContainer\" data-testid=\"mesh-container-content\">\n\u003Cdiv id=\"comp-k35p0cq1\" class=\"Z_l5lU ku3DBC zQ9jDz qvSjx3 Vq6kJx comp-k35p0cq1 wixui-rich-text\" data-testid=\"richTextElement\">\n\u003Cp class=\"font_8 wixui-rich-text__text\">\u003Cspan class=\"color_15 wixui-rich-text__text\">\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">David Banney was born in Brisbane, Australia, and is the Director of Music at Christ \u003C/span>\u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">Church Cathedral, Newcastle, the Artistic Director of the Christ Church Camerata, and was the founding director of the Newcastle Music Festival. An Associate Artist at the Australian Music Centre, David is a past winner of the ABC Australian Young Conductor of the Year Award and has conducted many of Australia's leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Queensland Symphony, Queensland Philharmonic, Opera Queensland, West Australian Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and Canberra Symphony. He has worked as conductor or chamber musician with \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">soloists including Roger Woodward, Tamara Anna Cislowska, Kathryn Selby, Andrea Lam  and Simon Tedeschi (piano), Susan Collins and Tor Fromhyr (violin), Andrew Blanch (guitar), Sally Walker (flute), singers \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">Deborah Humble, \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">Christopher\u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\"> Allan, Grace Knight \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">and Deborah Conway, and William Barton (didgeridoo). His teachers have included Vernon Handley and Sir Andrew Davis (conducting) and Patricia Pollett (viola).\u003C/span>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp class=\"font_8 wixui-rich-text__text\">\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">As a composer, David won the ABC Young Composers Competition, and his output includes chamber music, choral music, orchestral music and scores for documentary films. His music has been performed by artists including Susan Collins (violin), Anthea Scott-Mitchell (cello), the Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the NSW Doctors Orchestra, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral and the Christ Church Camerata. \u003C/span>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/section>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>","\u003Cp class=\"font_8 wixui-rich-text__text\">\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">As an educator, David has \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">enjoyed a long association with Géza Szilvay, the creator of \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">the Colourstrings curriculum. David has taught at many levels, from primary school to \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">postgraduate \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">level, and has composed a large body of music for young players based on the Kodály approach to music education. With ABC radio journalist Paul Bevan, David presented more than three hundred episodes of Banney's Baton Banter - a weekly chat about music and life on ABC1233. David devised 'Tigers and Teapots: Songs for Children' - a collection of children's songs arranged for choir and strings, which has been performed throughout Australia, and has become a staple of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's education program. \u003C/span>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp class=\"font_8 wixui-rich-text__text\">\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">As a \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">researcher, David has \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">published papers and spoken at \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">numerous \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">conferences on two \u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\">subject\u003C/span>\u003Cspan class=\"wixui-rich-text__text\"> areas - symmetry breaking in music and Kodály-based music education in the Australian context.\u003C/span>\u003C/p>","davidbanney.com","https://www.davidbanney.com/about","[[Photo courtesy Newcastle Cathedral]]",[5],{"id":39,"width":40,"height":41,"modified_on":42,"focal_point_x":17,"focal_point_y":17},"056530fe-3638-425d-a48e-456fdd2ee4fc",4000,2667,"2026-02-17T02:24:53.000Z",{"title":44,"slug":45},"Tree of Knowledge Memorial","tree-of-knowledge-memorial",1783498847312]